Michael Keenan (Stirling, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

The opposition will accept the motion. The government amendments are relatively noncontroversial. The amendments of Senator Xenophon deserve greater thought. The most serious problem with this Fair Work (Transitional Provisions and Consequential Amendments) Bill 2009 is that there are aspects of it that will directly destroy tens of thousands of Australian jobs. You do not need to take my word for that; you can listen to any of the industries that are going to be affected. They have got independent research. In the fast food industry, 18,000 people are going to be thrown out of work unless this government decides to change tack. In the pharmacy industry, thousands will be thrown out of work. Research done in my home state of Western Australia says that almost 700 people will lose their jobs unless this government listens to reason on this so-called award modernisation process.

The amendments of Senator Xenophon go only a very small way to addressing our concerns. The coalition had far superior amendments, but the government, the Labor Party, would not change tack, they would not listen to reason and they are hell bent on pursuing this course of action no matter what the consequences are for average Australians. Some of the most vulnerable workers in our community are literally going to be thrown out of work unless this government listens to reason and changes aspects of their industrial relations regime. This so-called award modernisation process is in pursuit of what we consider to be a laudable aim. But, like so much that the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Ms Gillard, pursues, it has been completely bungled and botched. This is a minister who cannot give the time required to her massive brief, so she bungles in education and she bungles workplace relations, but the consequences in workplace relations are particularly severe because we are talking about people’s livelihoods. We are talking about the ability of Australians to be able to go out there and get a job, particularly in industries which traditionally employ very vulnerable Australians—people who might not be able to find work elsewhere. These amendments will be accepted, but the reality is that the debate about Labor’s industrial relations system, in particular this so-called award modernisation, has a long way to go.

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